Bettina Wassener Keynote Speaker

Bettina Wassener has covered business, markets, economic and security issues at some of the world’s most respected print, online and TV organisations, and as an analyst at a political risk consultancy.

During more than two decades at the Financial Times, CNBC and the International New York Times, among others, Bettina has interviewed some of the world’s most influential thought leaders. She has gained deep insights into a wide range of business sectors – from airlines and banks to the industrial, consumer, luxury, media and IT spaces.

She was most recently the Asia Economics Correspondent for the New York Times/International Herald Tribune from 2008 to 2014. Bettina’s coverage of the effect that Asia’s rapid economic growth has had on the environment won her an Honourable Mention at Asia’s premier journalism-awards event in 2013. She previously held positions as CNBC’s Germany News Editor (2006-08), and as Frankfurt Correspondent for the Financial Times (2000-05).

Bettina is a lively and confident moderator. She has deep relationships with Tier 1 media and profound insights into the way editors and journalists make decisions – what questions they are likely to ask, what buzzwords will resonate. She has also had an active role in the changes that have transformed the media landscape over the years – from the advent of online and social media to the growing importance of visual content.

An intrepid traveller who has lived in half a dozen countries and speaks several languages (she is able to moderate in German as well as English), Bettina is as comfortable in a boardroom as on a freight barge to Timbuktu.